His Reason to Breathe
by Hannah Rubix
Summary: His eyes involuntarily followed the sway of her curvy hips once again. Maybe, just maybe, he would stick around for awhile longer just to see what she would do. At least he had a reason to live for now. Nick & OC Karen . Rate & Review please.
1. Karen's Chair

HAHA! I love Nick so much, so I figured he needed someone spicy. This story takes right after his kidnapping.

Disclaimer: I do not own CSI or anything involved.

**Karen is modeled after my good friend Karen.** This story is dedicated to her and my other friends. Kaaaaaaaren!

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His eyes dark and searching, Nick Stokes looked around the emptying break room. He was nursing his usual morning cup of coffee, unluckily stuck with the lab's coffee instead of some of Greg's Cuban coffee. He had just worked a double shift, and all he really wanted to do was lie down and listen to Garth Brooks, maybe read one of those books he had managed to pick up, or even watch a little football. All of those things relaxed him, and anyways, he should be off the clock any minute. _Any minute_, he thought drowsily, shutting his eyes for a moment. He told himself he would just rest his eyes for a minute, not even. He was exhausted; two days without sleep could do that to someone. But any minute he got to go home and watch football. He vaguely wondered who was playing tonight and shrugged; it didn't matter. His kept his eyes closed as images of the comfy couch and a nice warm, good cup of coffee flashed by. He only had a few minutes left to go, and then he could go home. "A few more minutes," he promised himself drowsily. He didn't want to fall asleep, but it would feel so good

Images of a big screen T.V. and a football game and a pretty girl danced his eyes, keeping him happy. The next thing he knew, he was hearing a rustling noise and quiet footsteps. Nick opened his sleep clouded brown eyes to a blond head bending down to the refrigerator. He closed his eyes again, world weary. Even though weeks had past, it felt like days ago he was laying inside that glass cage, the coffin he was meant to be buried in. He could barely sleep anyways, in fear of being taken again. The horrors of what had happened to him plagued him continuously, day and night. Nick knew his friends and fellow CSIs wonder what happened to the optimistic, silly CSI. But since the kidnapping he hadn't laughed as much, his smiles hadn't reached his eyes. He just didn't think he had much to live for anymore, that nothing was worth staying alive for. He was going to die anyways; why not go in a painless way? But he didn't think he could abandon Grissom, Catherine, Sara, Warrick, his family (especially Cisco), and even Greg like that.

Shaking his head, he cleared the sleep out of his dark eyes and gazed at the figure in front of him. So he hadn't been dreaming, there was actually someone blond in front of him. And judging by her tight jeans and curve hugging green sweater, she was female. She didn't look that bad from behind; actually, she looked rather enticing. The woman was reaching into the small fridge to try and get something out of this, and looking at her hunched over, Nick remarked a sliver of porcelain white skin between her sweater and her jeans. He got up, ready to help her, and reached over to the fridge. Instantly, the woman moved straight up, having found what she was looking for, and collided with him.

"Damn it," she said, her voice sounding as clear as a silver bell. Nick gazed at the woman who had just bumped into him, and instantly his jaw dropped. The woman glared at him for a moment before bending over once again to pick up the sandwich she had dropped. She walked over to the table his had been sitting at confidently, her hips swaying. He was too busy looking at her exquisite features to realize she had taken his seat. The woman had beautiful flowing dark blond hair that cascaded down her shoulders in waves, and her features were delicate, almost Finnish looking. In his opinion, the feature that hypnotized him was her twinkling eyes, the ones that showed laughter even while she was glaring. Her eyes were hazelnut brown in color, but somehow green too. Just by glimpsing into them he saw gold, green, and brown, and he wanted to see more.

Walking over to her, Nick sighed. "Can you please get out of my seat?" She was probably one of the new interns, probably one of Greg's wannabe replacements. "Who said this was your seat? Does it have your name on it?" She was clearly enjoying it; the teasing in her voice was evident. That and the way her eyes glittered with pleasure. "No miss, but I suggest you get out of it." Damn Southern manners. He just wanted to yell at her for sitting in his seat, but he was too polite to actually do it. "What are you going to do if I don't?" Her voice showed she was clearly challenging him. He could also hear a slight lilt to her voice, maybe a Canadian or northern accent? He walked around over to her and put his hands on his hips. "Miss," he began, but she silenced him with a small smirk. "I'm only here for a minute anyways; you can go back to your snoring after I leave." The tips of his ears turned red; he didn't know she had been in here while he was sleeping. "Fine," he grudgingly said and sat across from her.

She was enjoying that she had won that little battle; that he could tell. She took a small bite at the sandwich and then grimaced at its taste. He was about to warn her not to drink the coffee, but it was too late. Upon seeing the grimace on her face, he grinned. "It's an acquired taste; you have to be pretty strong to manage it on your first day. Of course, I did." He saw no harm in taunting the intern. Sensing his challenge, she downed the cup and then smiled forcibly. "Happy?" She said through gritted teeth. "Actually, I think you beat my record of drinking the most coffee on the first day." Proud, the woman shifted her blond hair over to her other shoulder. "So who are you anyways?" She asked. He could sense she was being rude on purpose, to try and contradict his politeness. "Nick Stokes, and you?"

Before the woman could answer, Greg pranced in with a small smile on his face. "I'm off with Em-"Before he could finish, a delighted laugh escaped his throat. "I see you've met Karen." Nick looked at the blond girl with interest, now being able to put a name with the face. "I'm here from Canada," Karen began, enjoying the moment. "The Thompson case has apparently stumped one of America's best crime labs and they called in an expert. Of course, I was the next best thing." Greg chuckled at this; Nick could tell they shared the same humor. He found it hard to contain a smile at her words. Karen got up, looking at her watch and pushing her chair out. "I'd love to sit here and chat some more, but I think Mr. Grissom needs me in the AV lab." Her body swayed again as she walked out of the room. Nick's eyes involuntarily followed her movements until she turned the corner. Before she completely disappeared, he heard her voice clearly. "Oh, and I'll be seeing you later."

Before he could ask what she meant by that, she had long passed the corner by. Greg's eyebrow raised as he laughed at Nick's muddled expression. "Quite the girl, isn't she? Not to mention that hair?" Before he could wolf whistle, Nick held a hand up. "And what about Em?" Greg smiled wider, remembering where he was heading. "Well, she's nothing compared to my Em, but she's definitely something new and good for this lab. Not to mention this is the first time I've seen you smile in about a week." Greg walked out of the break room, still chuckling. "Man, you are so whipped. Just look out, she's Catherine's cousin." "I am n-"Nick's eyes widened considerately more as he realized Greg's words made sense. Just looking at the soft figure should've tipped him off. As he got ready to leave, his eyes drifted to a small Sticky note left of _his_seat. Shaking his head and laughing, he read it out loud. "Property of Karen Willows, **not Nick Stokes.**"


	2. Nick Takes the Chair

I dedicate this chapter to Karen Baren again. I think the Sticky Notes are pretty random, but sort of cute! Rate & Review please! Oh, and all the victims are dedicated to my friends.

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Nick walked to the DNA lab alone. Since Greg had stopped working in there, the usual Marilyn Manson wasn't playing. Instead, some Alicia Keys or something was playing. He shook his head; Mia did not have the best taste in music. Maybe it was Usher or something, but the tune was catchy and annoying. He poked his head into the lab, wondering if the Thompson case's results were done yet. The case almost legendary around the lab, and they had been working on it for a month already. Well, maybe a bit longer than that but a month seemed long enough to him. He understood why they called in an expert, someone who had dealt with crimes like this before. They called the case the Thompson case because Thompson was the last name of the first girl taken. No one wanted to get personally involved in this case, one of the detectives had lost a daughter to the notorious killer. The Thompson killer was famous and feared around Vegas, for probably good reason.

The first victim was a young girl, about 16. Her name was Baillie Thompson, and she was the first of many. Baillie had been out with friend at a club for teens, where she had disappeared. There was nothing out of the ordinary about that, but it got worse. She was missing for a week, and the lab got a phone call from the young woman, who was screaming for help as she was hurt. Only that wasn't the most disturbing fact in this case. Precisely two days after the call was placed, a girl's body would turn up. Baillie's body was found in front of the same club she had disappeared by, dressed up in a wedding gown and all made up. The only thing unnatural about her appearance was the bright red lipstick and the blond wig on the formerly copper haired girl. The next girls who disappeared were Emilia Marcs, Ash Davidson, May Alba, and Fione Montgomery.

All the girls were in between the ages of 16 and 20. All of them were found wearing wedding dresses, some traditional and some impractical. The lab had received a phone call from each girl, begging and screaming for help. All the girls showed evidence of sexual harassment or behavior, some consensual and some not. They all had on blond wigs, garish orange- red lipstick, and lots of makeup. The bodies were all found in front of the clubs the girls had gone missing from, and the causes of death were all strangulation. The case was horrifying, every girl and family's worst nightmare. Detective James Montgomery lost his daughter, and Nick had to witness the half Chinese girl's funeral. He wished they would catch the asshole that hurt these girls, but there only suspects were Jacob Jamison, the owner of all the clubs, and Nathan Bigly, a man spotted at each of the clubs. Karen Willows was an expert on disappearances and on rape.

Shaking his head, Nick once again collided with the petite blonde. But this time, she clutched onto his arm as she tried not to stumble, and glared at him. "Are you out to get me or something?" She asked venomously, rubbing her arm where it had hit him. He chuckled a bit as she shot him a wounded look. "Actually, I was going to see Mia for the DNA results off of Ash's body." He glanced at the paper she held in her hands and raised an eyebrow. "You beat me to it," he said, surprised. No one beat Nick to his evidence; he was always hanging around, just waiting until it was done. However, Karen smiled at him proudly. "The DNA on the wedding dress is a match to the DNA off the other dresses, the same unmatched male."

Nick nodded; he knew that already. There would be no change in the killer's pattern, seeing as he wasn't even close to being caught. They couldn't even get the suspects' DNA. Karen caught the saddened look in his eyes and smiled lightly. "Don't worry; we're going to catch him. After all, you have me on your team now." He nodded meekly, listening to her. Maybe Karen wasn't so bad after all, but that wasn't why he didn't want to get close to her. It was because she was Catherine's cousin, and they worked together, and if they ever dated then broke up, everything would be tense and awkward. That was the storybook reason, but there was yet another reason. He didn't want to get close to another person and disappoint them. And just by looking at Karen's clever eyes and quick wit, he could tell she was vulnerable. And if he disappeared again, if he died, he didn't want to hurt her.

He tried a small smile, but smiled wider as he realized she had moved her hand onto his arm. "Thanks, I hope we do. You better be good, you are the expert." Karen took her hand off of his arm but still walked beside him. "I'm getting there. I finished reading over the files last night, so I should get cracking in no time." Shooting an amused glance her way, Nick rolled his eyes. "Oh, and I saw your little Sticky Note. Clever." She laughed, an irresistible, golden sound bubbling out of her throat. He wanted to remember that sound forever, it was so perfect. "I knew you would like it," she replied at last, still grinning a bit.

They walked into the break room again, right beside each other. Nick looked around, but before he could remark anything, shouts came up. "Welcome to the lab Karen!" Catherine, Warrick, Greg, and Sara called, while Grissom genuinely smiled beside them. Nick looked over at Karen and saw her cheeks turning a scarlet color. He grinned and elbowed her, enjoying her sudden embarrassment. She rolled her eyes at him and then walked over to join the party, already laughing with Greg, already chatting comfortably with Sara and Grissom. She didn't even look out of place with the gang; all of them were smiling and talking with her. Even Grissom, he seemed intent on telling her about his prize winning cockroaches.

Nick sat down at the edge of the party, right beside Sara. "She's really something, isn't she?" He remarked, gazing at her as she and Catherine told a particularly funny story to Warrick and Greg. He listened to her sweet laugh for another moment before Sara replied to him. "Yeah. She's definitely something good for the lab, I haven't seen Grissom this excited for awhile," she remarked. "And not only him. Hodges even likes her, and Greg seems to think she's great. I like her, she's really sweet. An added bonus is that she made you laugh, the first time in a long time. And judging by the way you're staring at her, you've been thinking about her a lot." He turned red again, but quickly recovered. "I do not! She's Catherine's cousin." Sara smiled, seeing she hit a nerve. "Whatever. I'm going to leave you to your drooling."

Nick started to protest, but Sara had already walked away. He wasn't in the mood to join the party, but the fresh drinks lured him into the crowd. While he was getting a soda, Karen went over to the table to take a break. She sat down in her chair, but was stopped by a new Sticky Note on it. Smiling and looking over at Nick, she said it out loud, following his example. "This seat is property of Nick Stokes, here by never to have Karen Willows seated upon it."


End file.
